Polymers and other compounds containing highly fluorinated segments are widely used for providing oil and water repellency to textile substrates. For example, Fasik et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 3,378,609, disclose compositions which comprise a copolymer derived from at least one polyfluoroalkyl acrylate or methacrylate and at least one polymerizable vinyl compound which is free of nonvinylic fluorine, such as alkyl acrylates and methacrylates, dialkylaminoethylacrylates and methacrylates, and methylolacrylamide and methylolmethacrylamide. Also disclosed are compositions comprising a mixture of one of the foregoing polymers plus a vinyl polymer derived from at least one polymerizable compound which is free of nonvinylic fluorine or a nonfluorinated conjugated diene such as 2-chloro-1,3-butadiene or 2,3-dichloro-1,3-butadiene. U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,715 to Dettre et al. provides another example, the preferred compounds being tris(2-perfluoroalkylethyl) citrate urethanes. In some instances Dettre et al. added a nonflourinated vinyl polymer e.g. polymethylmethacrylate to an aqueous dispersion of the mixture of the perfluoroalkyl esters. Raynolds and Read, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,491,169, disclose copolymers derived from a mixture of polyfluoroalkyl methacrylates, lauryl methacrylate, hydroxyethylacrylate or hydroxyethylmethacrylate, and methylolacrylamide or methylolmethacrylamide. The latter two monomers are added in amounts of 0.5% by weight or less and serve to inhibit removal of the copolymer during laundry or dry cleaning of fabric to which the copolymer has been applied. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,462,296, Raynolds and Tandy disclose a copolymer similar to the Raynolds and Read copolymer, differing in that 2-ethylhexylmethacrylate is used in place of lauryl methacrylate and in the relative amounts of the components of the copolymers.
The prior art polymers are commonly prepared by emulsion polymerization using either an anionic or a cationic surfactant to stabilize the emulsion. The surfactant content of the dispersion or latex frequently interferes with effective deposition of the polymeric latex particles on the textile substrate which it is desired to treat. Thus, when a textile substrate is contacted with an aqueous composition containing such a latex and a cationic surfactant, a portion of the cationic surfactant migrates to and becomes deposited on the textile substrate making it cationic, thereby preventing effective deposition of the cationic polymer latex particles on the textile substrate. If the polymer latex is prepared using an anionic surfactant, a similar problem arises but for a different reason. All materials used for preparing textile fibers develop a negative charge when contacted with water. Therefore, polymeric latex or dispersion particles containing an anionic surfactant will be repelled by such fibers. The affect on deposition of latex particles on textile substrates observed with latexes containing cationic and anionic surfactants described above is referred to hereinafter as the "retarder effect." A nonionic surfactant cannot be used in the emulsion polymerization procedures in question, since they are run at temperatures which are high enough to cause a substantial portion of the nonionic surfactant to be dissolved in the organic phase, thereby causing the latex to coagulate. At those temperatures, the cationic and anionic surfactants remain in the aqueous phase, and as a consequence the latex does not coagulate.